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Speedway town manager hopes infrastructure improvements will be her enduring legacy

John Tuohy, john.tuohy@indystar.com
12:13 a.m. EDT March 15, 2014

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Wendell Walters, street commissioner, and Barbara Lawrence, town manager, were the king and queen of the Mardi Gras on Main Pub Crawl, Friday, February 28, 2014, in Speedway.(Photo: Brent Drinkut/The Star)Buy Photo

Speedway Town Manager Barbara Lawrence says it so proudly and often that it's a standing joke around Town Hall.

"I just love sewers," she said.

But she means it and she's proved it.

In six years in office, Lawrence shepherded through a $31 million sewer upgrade that raised rates a painful 70 percent but significantly reduced back-ups and street and basement flooding.

As she prepares to step down from her job in April, Lawrence said she hopes that project and other infrastructure improvements will be her enduring legacy.

"It's one of the reasons I took, the job, my love of sewers and financial transactions and local government," Lawrence said. "Sewers mean a lot for the quality of life in community."

Lawrence said she wants to take a break to spend time with her retired husband, Glenn, two grandchildren and great nephew, and travel.

"There's one part of he country I haven't seen a lot of, the upper middle west, Wyoming, Montana, so I'll probably head there," she said.

Lawrence, 53, came to the job with the right blend of experience to run a town of Speedway's size and needs at the time, town officials said.

She had been the executive director of the city of Indianapolis Bond Bank, which oversees millions of dollars in city projects and manages entities like the Downtown Canal and Union Station. She was director of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, the city controller and the Indianapolis Airport Authority treasurer.

"She brought a tremendous amount of skills and attributes to our town, especially in infrastructure and public finance," said Scott Harris, executive director of the Speedway Redevelopment Authority. "She's done a lot of good for this town."

Harris credited Lawrence, a native of New Albany and an Indiana University graduate, with revitalizing the town's parks departments.

"We had parks, sure, but we didn't have any programs," he said. "She started everything we have."

Lawrence brought yoga, aerobics, Zumba, golf lessons, concerts and other programs to the parks departments. The city also bought $2 million in playground equipment.

She was at the helm during a period of rapid change in Speedway spearheaded by the Redevelopment Commission, especially on Main Street. Several new businesses have opened and the redesigned street just hosted the city's first-ever Mardi Gras on Main celebration, which attracted an estimated 2,000 people.

"It was really something, there were people everywhere, including a lot of young people all having a good time," Lawrence said.

Despite hosting the state's signature event — the Indianapolis 500 — Lawrence said the race is a small part of the town manger's job. City departments — notably police and fire — are so practiced at coordinating the crowds that it has become routine.

"It is something we have to make sure goes off for three days at every year but it is, essentially, a special event," Lawrence said. "My role is to make sure the the town puts its best foot forward and make sure our residents are safe and secure."

Lawrence's focus always has been on infrastructure.

Two road project are underway, an $8.5 million roundabout at 16th Street, Main Street and Crawfordsville Road, and an $800,000 repaving of along two miles of 25th Street.

"Of course we always have to plan such projects around race season," Lawrence said. "So much of the round-a-bout work will be going on under the surface then."

Though undecided about her professional future, Lawrence said she could see herself as a private consultant to municipalities.

"I think I could be of service to a local government," she said. "But it is definitely time to move on to the next phase of my life."

Call reporter John Tuohy at 44-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.